Faith brings us in (vv. 12:6-8). God brings us out that He might bring us in (Deut. 6:23). We know nothing about their long journey from Haran to Canaan because it was the destination that was important. Centuries later, God would give that land to Abraham’s descendants, but when Abraham and Sarah arrived, they were “strangers and pilgrims” in the midst of a pagan society (Heb. 11:13).
In spite of what the folk songs say, entering Canaan is not a picture of dying and going to heaven. It is a picture of the believer claiming his or her inheritance by faith. God has appointed a “Canaan” for each of His children (Eph. 2:10), and it is obtained only by faith. Claiming your inheritance involves tests and temptations, challenges and battles, but God is able to see you through (Phil. 1:6).
Obedience leads to new assurance and new promises from God (Gen. 12:7; John 7:17). What comfort it must have brought when Abraham and Sarah had this fresh revelation of God as they arrived in a strange and dangerous land. When you walk by faith, you know that God is with you and you don’t need to be afraid (Heb. 13:5-6; Acts 18:9-10; 2 Tim. 4:17). God will work out His purposes and accomplish in and through you all that is in His heart.
Most of us are not commanded to pull up stakes and go to a strange country, but the challenges to our faith are just as real. Sometimes there are serious problems in the home, on the job, or in the church, and we wonder why God has permitted these things to happen. If you are to claim your spiritual inheritance in Christ, you must display faith in God’s Word and obedience to God’s will.
Wherever Abraham went in the land of Canaan, he was marked by his tent and his altar (Gen. 12:7-8; 13:3-4, 18). The tent marked him as a “stranger and pilgrim” who did not belong to this world (Heb. 11:9-16; 1 Peter 2:11), and the altar marked him as a citizen of heaven who worshipped the true and living God. He gave witness to all that he was separated from this world (the tent) and devoted to the Lord (the altar). Whenever Abraham abandoned his tent and his altar, he got into trouble.
Abraham pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Hai on the east (Gen. 12:8; “Ai” in niv). Bible names sometimes have significant meanings, though we must not press them too far. Bethel means “the house of God” (28:19), and Hai means “ruin.” Figuratively speaking, Abraham and Sarah were walking in the light, from east to west, from the city of ruin to the house of God! This world system is in ruins, but true believers have turned their backs on this world and have set their faces toward God’s heavenly home. “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day” (Prov. 4:18 niv).